Of course I’m only teasing but herein is a kernel of truth.
On her wall hangs a picture of her, my three sisters and my brother – still a baby –taken in 1967. If you look closely you will notice not only is my brother’s hands wrapped in baby mittens but my sisters (aged between 2-7) are wearing pristine white gloves.
You see my dad had a chronic fear of us getting any kind of dirt or dust on any part of our bodies. Ironically he was certain being scrupulously clean was the only way to protect us from diseases. So every playtime outside was strictly supervised. Every playtime we - as my mum put it - had to be “wrapped”.
Today my siblings and I all suffer from one kind of allergy or other, are asthmatic and are prone to respiratory illnesses. Genetics have been ruled out.
Of course I don’t really blame her or my dad – they were very young parents and believed the “cleanliness is next to godliness” dictum but now as I sneeze, blow my nose, wipe my eyes and feel just miserable despite having tried and tested all the antihistamines on this planet – I make a promise to any unborn children I may have in the future.
I promise them the freedom to get down n dirty!
Charlie says: I hear ya!
Have a munchkin Monday everyone!
30 comments:
Isn't there evidence suggesting that all of this anti-bacterial stuff we keep using is really more harmful for us?
It's better to build up the immune system.
Hope you feel better!
Hi Charlie!!!!
purrs from
abby
hai dear kitty,
its so nice of u to follow me on blogging
i want to give something for u
a little souvenir from me, bobo & chacha from malaysia
pls give me your address so tht i can post to u the little prezent
tq
Down and dirty is so much fun, it's never too late, right Charlie?
Charlie sure looks like he's having a fine time.
Your parents thought they were doing the right thing. I bet you and your brother and sisters have very nice skin.
There probably is some truth to that-they say here in the USA we created the peanut allergy by being super freakish about germs.
Oh, how Jen empathizes with the allergy thing! And it's not that I keep her wrapped up, either.
However, she DOES blame me and her father for giving her hay fever. How can you escape when both parents have it! This IS genetics. But I don't know. It's so complicated.
I seem to have mostly outgrown my hay fever and don't know why. Maybe because I'm so old (lol)! My dad outgrew his. So, maybe there's hope for you, Jen, etc etc (?)
Ooh,! And here I thought I was reading Sunday's posts as it is still Sunday here! Happy Monday to you, too!!
Btw--aren't you glad you aren't allergic to cats? ;)
It looks like Charlie has a wonderful time getting down 'n dirty!
Charlie has the right idea!
Actually, I grew up in the country where I did get down and dirty and no one worried about germs. We grew veggies and I can remember pulling carrots out of the ground, wiping them off on the grass and eating them. I had no problems with allergies (except to cats, actually) until I moved to Ontario. Several years here and I started having problems, and now of course I have lost my sense of smell. I blame the air quality...and the cats. LOL. ;-)
Mama thinks you could be onto something. She ran round in the backyard barefoot and got into anything she could and she doesn't have any allergies. I'm with Charlie on this one - time to get down and dirty and roll in the sun.
I agree with you, Kitty, my mum always said 'a dirty child is a healthy child' a lot of truth in that.
My kids last night were pretty messy, sand, bicycle oil and seaweed, sign of a good day.
Down and dirty is the best. We love to be as dirty as possible. Charlie, you are looking good all stretched out there on the pavement. Hope you have a wonderful week.
Aw! I can just imagine the mittens. I was the opposite - I fell in the local stream, made mud pies, flower perfume, picked up worms, and had a pet slug. However, despite this sterling work towards my immune system, I still have hayfever! And Charlie looks very happy indeed - he has the right idea. :)
The visual of the little gloves is too much!
I agree with this entire post. When I visit someone with a newborn, and every visitor gets a squirt of hand sanitizer, I chuckle because 1) especially if a mother is breast feeding, the baby has her immunity and 2) Once siblings follow, there's no way to keep germs away from a baby.
Between the ages of 1 and 2, my children had the habit of eating sand before I could stop them and survived. And they rarely get sick now, so my less-than-obsessive parenting/neglect has made them stronger.
I think that is kindof cute! Your dad keeping your hands covered. But you do have a point about the allergies. My mother's house where I grew up was full of dog, cat and horse hair! So that is why I figured we don't have allergies!!!
I hope you feel better soon!
xxoo
Deborah
Sorry to hear about the allergies, how miserable. I've heard that there is truth in this althogh one of our kids was so allergic from earliest babyhood that we had to sadly find new homes for our 2 lovely cats - and believe me "Pristine" was never a word applied to our home.
The good news for the cats is that they seemed to prefer their new home in a quiet country village with an elderly indulgent couple, to life with children in central London. Hm...gosh, I wonder why???
It's a good approach, although obviously you can go too far with it. If it's any consolation, I had a pretty free-range childhood and I still get hay-fever. And, yes, I'm evern allergic to our cat. She, however, just doesn't seem to care about that!
We're glad to see you haven't put mittens on Charlie while he's rolling round outside!
It is so true that we need to have some exposure to germs as a child to build up resisitance.
Sorry about the hay Fever...that can be so annoying!
Man, I really hope this is true... I pretty much live by 'you need practice to fight germs well' and don't worry about ANY of it. (probably it will backfire, but at least it is low stress while I go)
LOVE Charlie sprawled on the pavement! Our cat loves that oo--not sure why pavement is so much more enjoyable to roll in, but it seems to be...
My children should have no allergies at all! I amde sure of that with my lack of housekeeping skills.
Ahhh ... ahhhh .... Chooo!
I've heard that that can happen but you're the first person I've ever got a first hand account of. Truth is, I was sick a lot as a kid (as were my sisters) but we were totally bare foot, pb&j faced, koolaid smile kids.
You might just be right! Between this baby (10 mos old) and my 7 year old, all the rules of waiting to expose kids to potential allergy-causing foods have changed. Now there are next to no rules and instead early exposure helps boost immunities.
And I hope you are not allergic to Charlie--that would be bad! :o)
Hayfever, argh. You know, I never suffered until I moved to England. Now every May/ June, my eyes are red and I'm coughing and sniffling. An attractive look, to be sure.
Thanks, England! :)
Hope you get through it OK!
Yes I did let my boys crawl around on quite messy floors and eat biscuits off them - doesn't seem to have done them any harm so far - although sadly my eldest has this year started suffering from hayfever so it can't have actually prevented it either. My mum was very, very careful about dirt and germs when I was little (although no white gloves!) now I have a bad dust-mite allergy! But at least I'm not allergic to cats, not that I'd give Archie up even if I was! xx
Awww,Charlie, you've sure got that right! Love the way you're stretched out there. You certainly look fluffy, too.
A little dirt is healthy...take a lesson from Charlie and roll in the dirt :) He seems to be enjoying himself!
We weren't *wrapped* but still all managed to acquire allergies in abundance from our mom. Every time any of us sneezes in our mother's presence we say "thanks, Mom!" :)
Down and dirty is fine until the busy stressed mum has to clean it!
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